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The world’s population officially hit seven billion today, and there are more opportunities than ever for music lovers around the world to hear the New York Philharmonic. The Orchestra has performed in a record 430 cities, 63 countries, on 5 continents — and there’s no stopping there. In February 2012 the musicians take off again for Europe, and in May, to the U.S. West Coast. Armchair listeners can follow along on the Virtual Tours posted on nyphil.org and keep up with the latest news on Tumblr, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.

What do you say world, can you hear us now?

Check out the Philharmonic’s first digital ebrochure — an interactive guide that allows you to explore the season through videos, audio, and other special features.

Find out how Music Director Alan Gilbert puts the programs together for each season, what the Orchestra does on tour, and why Alec Baldwin is a Philharmonic subscriber.

As Halloween creeps near, our friends at WQXR have created a list of the Top 5 Classical Halloween Costumes, as well as the Top Five Costumes in Opera (if you’ve always seen yourself as more of a Count Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia).

If you’re still looking for that perfect costume idea, we suggest you take inspiration from your favorite composer or musician (living or dead). Will we see any “Alan Gilberts” out there?

If you missed Principal Cello Carter Brey’s recital last weekend at Edmond Town Hall, you can still hear him and Principal Viola Cynthia Phelps in the concerts of November 10–12 and 15, when they portray the protagonists in Richard Strauss’s Don Quixote, conducted by Bernard Haitink. Windmill sold separately.

On October 4, 1982, more than 5,000 people filled the sold-out Radio City Music Hall to experience the world premiere of Godfrey Reggio’s film Koyaanisqatsi — the title means “life out of balance” in the Hopi Indian vernacular. Featuring music by Philip Glass the film, which The New York Times called “remarkably seductive,” became a cult classic with its striking take on the state of American civilization through image and sound.

Experience this “entertaining trip” on November 2–3, when the New York Philharmonic performs the score alongside the film with Philip Glass and the Philip Glass Ensemble.

It’s been 44 years since the New York Philharmonic last performed in Montreal, but next month Music Director Alan Gilbert and the Orchestra will head north of the border for two concerts on November 4–5 as part of the inaugural season of Maison symphonique de Montréal — the new home of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra.

The Philharmonic’s last performance in Montreal was during the 1967 Universal and International Exhibition with former Music Director Leonard Bernstein. View that concert program in the New York Philharmonic Digital Archives.